Alignment mechanism for carpet-measuring machine

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for aligning carpet on a carpet-measuring machine including means for aligning one edge of carpet with two edge sensors as the carpet leaves a supply roll and thereafter moving the supply roll to keep the carpet edge aligned with one of the two edge sensors as the carpet is rolled off of the supply roll and onto a takeup roll.

United States Patent Thomas B. Keesling Los Gatos;

Clifford E. Keesling, San Jose, Calif. 794,340

Jan. 27, 1969 Jan. 19, 197 1 Functional Systems Corporation a corporation of Nevada Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 730,836, May 21, 1968, now Patent No. 3,532

inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee ALIGNMENT MECHANISM FOR CARPET- MEASURING MACHINE 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 242/57.l

Int. Cl B65h 25/10, B6Sh 25/26 [50] Field of Search .I 242/57.1,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,009,664 1 l/ 1961 l-luck 242/57.l 3,193,086 7/1965 Wilhelm 226/21X 3,228,620 l/1966 Lee 242/56 3,232,547 2/1966 Thiede et a1. 242/57 1 Primary Examiner-George F. Mautz Attorney-Limbach, Limbach & Sutton ABSTRACT: Apparatus for aligning carpet on a carpet-measuring machine including means for aligning one edge of carpet with two edge sensors as the carpet leaves a supply roll and thereafter moving the supply roll to keep the carpet edge aligned with one of the two edge sensors as the carpet is rolled off of the supply roll and onto a takeup roll.

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SHEEF 1 OF 2 ll w INVENTORS moms 5. KEESL/NG BY CLIFFORD Kf5L/lil5 2- a V ATTORNEYfi AMGNMENT MECHANISM FOR CARPET-MEASURING MACHINE RELATED APPLlCATlONS p SUMMARY OF INVENTION The carpet-handling machine shown in our above-identified application employs a support cradle for a supply roll of carpet, a conveyor for conveying carpet awaya s the supply roll unwinds,and a roll form apparatus for winding up the carpet. Between the supply roll and the roll form, the carpet is measured and cut to length.

The apparatus of the above-mentioned application in included means for aligning the side edge of the carpet parallel to the conveyor path of carpet over'the machine and continuously adjusting this alignment so that the carpet which was rolled up in the roll form mechanism was rolled up square without any coning. Additionally that apparatus employed means for centering the supply roll in the supply roll support cradle.

In accordance with this invention we have provided a more effective mechanism for aligning the carpet parallel to the conveyor path over the machine, and we have provided such an alignment mechanism which will operate effectively on the carpet roll'regardless of whether or not the carpet roll is centered in the supply roll cradle. In this way, the operation of the machine is more rapid, and the alignment mechanism of this invention is more effective in eliminating coning of the carpet roll.

The alignment mechanism used in this invention includes a pair of sensing devices in the conveyor section of the machine for sensing the edge of a carpet moving across the conveyor. These sensing devices are coupled to control elements for initially aligning the edge of the carpet with the edge sensors and thereafter moving the carpet supply roll to keep the edge of the carpet aligned with one of the edge sensors so that any preexisting coned condition of the supply roll is compensated automatically.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carpet measuring and cutting machine employing the alignment apparatus of this invention;

FEG. 2 is a plan view of the machine of FIG. 1 illustrating three different conditions in which carpet may be located in the machine;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view taken along a transverse plane of the machine illustrating one of the edge sensors employed in the alignment mechanism of FIG. 1;

MG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 3 taken along the plane indicated at 4-4; and

H6. 5 is a circuit diagram of electrical components which may be employed for automatic alignment controls in accordance with this invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, the machine illustrated therein employs, like the machine shown in the above-identified application, a central frame carrying a supply roll cradle 12, a central conveyor section 14, and a roll form section 16 with a measuring apparatus l8 and cutting assembly indicated generally at 20 located between the supply roll cradle 12 and roll form section l6 all as described in greater detail in our copending application. The supply roll cradle 12 and central conveyor section 14 include a large number of driven wheels by which a supply roll 22 may be rotatedand carpet sent across the machine as the supply roll is unwound. As described in greater detail in our copending application, the drive wheels in the right and left halves of the supply roll cradle are driven independently from drive shafts 24and 26, respectively, so that by applying differential drive forces on the opposite ends of the supply roll 22, the supply roll 22 may be skewed in the cradle l2. Skewing of the supply roll will change the alignment of the carpet edge on the machine, and rotation of the skewed supply roll in the cradle 12 will cause bodily movement of the supply roll along the length of the cradle 12.

Forward and rearward edge sensor assemblies 28 and 30 respectively, are mounted in the area of the conveyor I4 for sensing the edge of carpet moving across the machine. These sensor assemblies 28 and 30 are mounted on lead screws 32 and 34 which are connected together by chain and sprocket mechanisms (not shown) for rotation in unison so that the sensor assemblies 28 and 30 may be moved laterally of the machine in unison while keeping the two sensor assemblies aligned with each other in a direction parallel to the direction of motion of carpet across the machine.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the sensor assembly 28 ilIustrated therein includes a housing mounted on the lead screw 32 and carrying a slider 36 which engages a rail 38 so that the sensor assembly 28 is-maintained in an erect condition extending past the side of the path 40 of carpet on the conveyor 14. A protector shoe 42 is mounted on the sensor assembly for engaging the' side of the carpet if it should get seriously out of alignment. A light source 44 is mounted in the upper end of the sensor assembly 28 and shines light toward a pair of photodetectors 46 and 48 below the path of carpet. The photodetectors may take the form of any conventional radiation responsive device such as photoresistors', phototransistors, solar cells and the like which may be responsive to ultraviolet, visable or infrared radiation from the source 44.

As will be noted in FIGS. 3 and 4, the detectors 46 and 48 are spaced apart from each other in a direction parallel to the width of the machine so that they may detect the edge of the carpet, determining that the edge of the carpet isbetween them when light from the light source 44 falls on detector 46 but does not fall on detector 48.

As explained above, means are provided for driving rollers in the two sides of the cradle 12 at differential speeds. The mechanism employed for this purpose may be the structure shown in the above-mentioned copending application but preferably takes the form of electrical clutches and electromechanical brakes on both of the drive shafts 24 and 26 together with a reversible drive motor which may be connected in eitherforward or reverse to either or both of the shafts 24 and 26. The reversible drive motor employed for driving shafts 24 and 26 may also be coupled to drive shafts 32 and 34 in forward and rearward direction.

As mentioned above, the photodetectors 46 and 48 may be provided by a variety of circuit elements and coupled to drive other circuit elements, but they are shown for convenience in FlG. 5 as switches 46 and 48. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that a variety of circuits may be employed to effect the function of switches 46 and 48 depending upon the par ticular photodetector employed in the apparatus of HG. 3. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the switch elements 46 and 48 are in their arms up position when no light is falling on the optical detectors in FIG. 3 and in the arms down position when light does fall on the optical detectors. Similar switches 48a and 46a are illustrated in FIG. 5 for the switching function of the optical detectors in the edge sensor 30. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the switches 46 and 48 are connected together to provide from single input terminal 50 a signal at one of three output terminals 52, 54 or 56 when (l l the carpet covers neither photo detector (terminal 52), (2) the carpet covers detector 48 but does not cover detector 46 (terminal 54), and (3) the carpet covers both photodetectors 46 and 48 (tenninal 56).

A relay 58 is provided with four relay switch arms with the output terminals of edge sensor 30 connected through three of the arms and with the fourth switch arm connected through a reset switch 60 to hold the relay 58 in energized condition. As will be apparent hereinafter, the relay 58 functions to controll initial edge alignment of the carpet when the relay is unenergized and to control subsequent alignment of the position of the carpet supply roll when the relay 58 is energized.

With the relay 58 in its unenergized condition, the outputs of the edge sensors 28 and 30 are connected to three relays 62, 64 and 66. The relay 66 functions to drive the sensor advancing screws 32 and 34, and the relays 62 and 64 operate to drive one or the other of shafts 24 and 26 in reverse to bring the carpet edge into alignment with the edge sensors 28 and 30. Thus, output terminals 68 and 70 of relay 66 may be connected to a pair of electromagnetic clutches which connect the drive motor of the machine, one directly and the other through a reverse gear, to the sensor advance screws 32 and 34. Similarly, output terminal 72 of relay 64 is connected to an electromechanical clutch which connects drive shaft 26 through a reverse gear to the main motor drive shaft of the machine, and output terminal 74 of relay 62 connects shaft 24 through a reverse gear to the main drive shaft of the machine.

It will be apparent from examination of FIG. that the edge sensors 28 and 30 and relays 62-66 will operate automatically to bring the carpet edge into alignment with the edge sensors 28 and 30 with that edge aligned with the path of travel of carpet over the conveyor 14. This alignment sequence may be initiated by the closing of a manual switch after carpet is first fed off of the supply roll 22 or it may be initiated automatically after carpet is fed off of the supply roll as explained in more detail in the above-mentioned copending application. With reference to FIG. 2, let us assume that a carpet supply roll has just been placed on the machine and the roll unwound to extend a short length of carpet across the conveyor section 14 as illustrated. As explained our above-mentioned application, a carpet sensor may detect the carpet at this point and initiate an automatic alignment sequence as for instance by closing a switch to apply voltage to the positive terminals indicated in FIG. 5. In this situation, if both of the edge sensors 28 and 30 are withdrawn so far towards one side of the machine that neither of the switches 48 or 48a are closed, none of the relays 58, 62, 64 or 66 will be energized and current will flow through the second arm of each of the relays 62, 64 and 66 to terminal 68 so that shafts 32 and 34 are driven forward until one of the switches 48 or 48a closes. Let us asume at this point that the edge sensors 28 and 30 have advanced to the position illustrated in the left-hand view of FIG. 2 where the one switch that has closed is switch 48 of edge sensor 28. At this point voltage will be applied from the first arm of relay 58 to terminal 54 of edge sensor 28 to energize relay 64 so that voltage will be applied from switch 48a to terminal 72 to drive shaft 26 in reverse so that one end of the carpet roll will be pulled as indicated by arrow 80 in FIG. 2 and the forward edge of the carpet will be shifted as indicated by arrow 82 to again permit switch 48 to open.

If the opposite situation occurred where switch 48a opened before switch 48, power would be applied to the switch 46a to energize relay 62 with the result that power would be applied from the first arm of relay 58 through terminal 52 to terminal 74 so that drive shaft 24 would be driven in reverse to pull the other end of the carpet as illustrated by arrow 84 in FIG. 2 with the result that the leading edge of the carpet would move as illustrated by arrow 86 in FIG. 2.

It will thus be apparent that regardless of which switch 48 or 48a closes first, an initial alignment action will take place to tend to bring the edge of the carpet into alignment with the path of movement of the carpet over the machine. If both switches 48 and 48a open simultaneously, power will be applied to the first arms of both relays 62 and 64 to energize relay 58 to indicate that alignment has been obtained.

If at any time after one of the partial alignment corrections has been accomplished, both of the switches 48 and 48a are again opened, power will again be applied to terminal 68 to advance the sensors 28 and 30 as explained above. Similarly, if after any partial correction both of the switches 48 and 480 have closed and additionally one of the switches 46 or 46a closes to indicate that the carpet is not aligned but that the sensors have advanced too far, power will be applied to terminal 70 to drive the sensor advancing screws 32 and 34 in reverse. Thus, consider the situation where switches 48, 48a,- and 46 have moved to their arms down positions, power is applied from the first arm of relay 58 through switch 46 to terminal 56 to energize relay 66 so that power is applied to terminal 70 through the first arm of relay 66. Similarly, where arm 46a is down, power is applied through the fourth arm of relay 58 to energize relay 66 and apply power to terminal 70. Note that switch arm 46a cannot move to its arms down position while switch 48a is still in its arms up position because the carpet cannot obstruct the path of light to sensor 46 without also obstructing the passage of light to sensor 48.

It should be apparent that the circuit illustrated in FIG. 5 will operate continuously applying control voltages to terminals 68-74 until the carpet reaches the condition illustrated in the right-hand side of FIG. 2 where the both of the switches 48 and 48a are closed and both of the switches 46 and 460 are open and the carpet is properly aligned. At this time, relay 58 is energized through the first arms of relays 62 and 64 as explained above and relay 58 will be held energized through reset switch 60 while carpet is measured and formed into a roll by roll form apparatus 16 as explained in greater detail in our above-mentioned application.

When the relay 58 is energized, forward edge sensor 28 is deactivated because its supply power is removed by the first arm of relay 58. The rearward edge sensor 30 however, continues to control alignment of the machine as the measured roll of carpet is wound up, and this is accomplished by conducting the output of switches 48a and 46a through the second and fourth terminals of relay 58 to terminals 88 and 90. As explained in our copending application, unrolling of the supply roll 22 and rolling up of the carpet in the roll form 16 is accomplished with both of the drive shafts 24 and 26 driven at the same speed in a forward direction. Continuous realignment of the carpet is accomplished by applying a drag to one of these two shafts so that. the supply roll 22 becomes skewed in the cradle 12 and is bodily moved along the length of the cradle as the drive rollers in the cradle trace a helical path around the circumference of the rotating supply roll. As explained above, the drag is preferably applied to one side of the cradle by means of electrical clutches and electrically driven brakes on the shafts 24 and 26 so that one of the two shafts may be driven forward at constant speed while the clutch and brake on the other shaft are alternately pulsed. This result is accomplished with the apparatus shown in FIG. 5 by connecting the terminal 88 to a pulsator which alternately pulses the clutch and brake on shaft 26 and by connecting terminal 90 to a pulsator which alternately pulses the clutch and brake on shaft 24. This pulsing effects bodily movement of the supply roll to keep the edge of the carpet in alignment with the edge sensor 30 in the following way.

Assuming that the roll 22 has unrolled from a partially coned condition to a situation where the edge of the carpet uncovers photodetector 48a and switch 48a moves to its arms support up position, power will be applied through the second arm of relay 58 to terminal 88 to cause the clutch and brake on shaft 26 to be alternately pulsed while shaft 24 is running forward at constant speed. This will effectively apply a drag to the remote end of the supply roll 22 (in the direction of arrow in FIG. 2) so that the supply roll 22 becomes skewed on the cradle 12. We have observed that during the skewing the carpet appeared to be maintained in a tight stretched condition near the end of the carpet roll to which the drag is applied while at the opposite end of the roll the carpet tends to bulge slightly on the conveyor section 14 as that end of the carpet roll continues to advance. In this situation with the supply roll 22 skewed on the cradle 12 the carpet will move longitudinally of the cradle in a direction away from the end of the carpet roll to which the drag is applied so that in our situation with drag applied to the shaft 26 the carpet roll will move toward the edge sensor 30 until the photodetector 48a is again covered and the switch 48a opens. Similarly, when the switch 46a opens because the edge of the carpet has moved too close to the edge sensor 30 power is applied through the fourth" arm of relay 58 to terminal 90 so that drag is applied to the drive shaft 24 and the supply roll 22 is conveyed longitudinally of the cradle 12 away from the edge sensor 30.

It will thus be apparent that with the relay 58 energized the edge sensor 30 operates automatically to make the carpet roll 22 move to keep the carpet edge aligned with the edge sensor 30 while the measured carpet on the machine is being role rolled up by the roll form 16. After the measured carpet has been rolled up and cut, the reset switch 60 may be opened to reset the circuit to a start condition. In this way, the edge sensors 28 and 30 may be employed for initially aligning the side edge of the carpet and continuously readjusting that alignment to the edge sensor 30 while the carpet is unrolled and measured. During this latter part of the operation, the edge sensor 30 is not moved. It will be apparent from understanding our copending application that the alignment mechanism shown in this application may be employed with the variety of variable control functions obtainable with the apparatus disclosed in the copending application.

While we have disclosed one specific embodiment of the present invention, the invention can be practiced with a variety of different structural arrangements and solid state circuit components, it being understood that the invention is defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a carpet measuring machine having means for supporting a supply roll, means for supporting a takeup roll, and conveyor means for conveying carpet along a predetermined direction from said supply roll to said takeup roll, the improved means for aligning carpet on said conveyor means which comprises:

A. first sensor means adjacent to said supply roll for sensing an edge of carpet on said conveyor means;

B. second sensor means between said first sensor means and said takeup roll for sensing the same edge of carpet on said conveyor means as the edge sensed by said first sensor means with said first and second sensor means aligned with each other in said predetermined direction;

' C. first control means for aligning a carpet edge with said first and second sensor means;

D. second control means for moving said supply roll to maintain an edge of said carpet in alignment with said first sensor means regardless of alignment of the carpet edge with said second sensor means and without moving said first sensor means; and

E. meansfor activating said first control means when carpet is first fed from said supply roll and thereafter activating said second control means when a takeup roll is formed and carpet is fed thereto from said supply roll.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said first control means comprises means for skewing said carpet roll and means for moving said first and second sensors perpendicular to said direction while keeping said first and second sensors aligned with each other in said direction.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which each of said first and second sensors comprises a radiation source mounted above said conveyor means and a pair of radiation detectors mounted below the level of carpet on said conveyor means and spaced apart from each other in a direction perpendicular to said predetermined direction.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said first control means comprises means for shifting said carpet and said pairs of radiation detectors with respect to each other until said carpet covers one and only one radiation detector of each pair.

5. in a carpet handling machine having means for supporting a supply roll, means't'or supporting a takeup roll, and conveyor means for conveying carpet along a predetermined direction from the supply roll to the takeup roll, the improved means for aligning carpet on said conveyor means which comprises:

A. first sensor means adjacent to the supply roll for sensing an edge of carpet on said conveyor means; B. second sensor means between said first sensor means and said takeup roll for sensing the same edge of carpet on said conveyor means as the edge sensed by said first sensor means with said first and second sensor means aligned with each other in said predetermined direction;

C. means for transporting said first and second sensor means in a direction perpendicular to said predetermined direction while maintaining said first and second sensor means in alignment with each other; and

D. control means for skewing a supply roll of carpet to align an edge of carpet leaving said supply roll with one of said first and second sensor means when said edge is aligned with the other of said first and second sensor means.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said control means comprises means for skewing said supply roll of carpet to bring the edge of carpet leaving said supply roll into alignment with said first sensor means.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said control means comprises means for skewing said supply roll of carpet to bring the edge of carpet leaving said supply roll into alignment with said second sensor means. 

1. In a carpet measuring machine having means for supporting a supply roll, means for supporting a takeup roll, and conveyor means for conveying carpet along a predetermined direction from said supply roll to said takeup roll, the improved means for aligning carpet on said conveyor means which comprises: A. first sensor means adjacent to said supply roll for sensing an edge of carpet on said conveyor means; B. second sensor means between said first sensor means and said takeup roll for sensing the same edge of carpet on said conveyor means as the edge sensed by said first sensor means with said first and second sensor means aligned with each other in said predetermined direction; C. first control means for aligning a carpet edge with said first and second sensor means; D. second control means for moving said supply roll to maintain an edge of said carpet in alignment with said first sensor means regardless of alignment of the carpet edge with said second sensor means and without moving said first sensor means; and E. means for activating said first control means when carpet is first fed from said supply roll and thereafter activating said second control means when a takeup roll is formed and carpet is fed thereto from said supply roll.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said first control means comprises means for skewing said carpet roll and means for moving said first and second sensors perpendicular to said direction while keeping said first and second sensors aligned with each other in said direction.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which each of said first and second sensors comprises a radiation source mounted above said conveyor means and a pair of radiation detectors mounted below the level of carpet on said conveyor means and spaced apart from each other in a direction perpendicular to said predetermined direction.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said first control means comprises means for shifting said carpet and said pairs of radiation detectors with respect to each other until said carpet covers one and only one radiation detector of each pair.
 5. In a carpet handling machine having means for supporting a supply roll, means for supporting a takeup roll, and conveyor means for conveying carpet along a predetermined direction from the supply roll to the takeup roll, the improved means for aligning carpet on said conveyor means which comprises: A. first sensor means adjacent to the supply roll for sensing an edge of carpet on said conveyor means; B. second sensor means between said first sensor means and said takeup roll for sensing the same edge of carpet on said conveyor means as the edge sensed by said first sensor means with said first and second sensor means aligned with each other in said predetermined direction; C. means for transporting said first and second sensor means in a direction perpendicular to said predetermined direction while maintaining said first and second sensor means in alignment with each other; and D. control means for skewing a supply roll of carpet to align an edge of carpet leaving said supply roll with one of said first and second sensor means when said edge is aligned with the other of said first and second sensor means.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said control means comprises means for skewing said supply roll of carpet to bring the edge of carpet leaving said supply roll into alignment with said first sensor means.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said control means comprises means for skewing said supply roll of carpet to bring the edge of carpet leaving said supply roll into alignment with said second sensor means. 